


delmar's daughter

by rewritethewebs



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, F/M, Peter blushes a lot, Plot Twist, all lowercase because they're too soft to use capital letters, but like this is my first and probably last fanfic, didn't proofread don't be a mean, its mr. delmar, probably a lot of mistakes, so just be kind, soft, the lowercase is intentional so don't read if ur bothered by it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 18:59:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15847386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rewritethewebs/pseuds/rewritethewebs
Summary: based on the tumblr prompt about mj being mr. delmar's daughter:"like just IMAGINE Peter one day going into the shop, teasing mr. delmar again about his daughter bc he won't stop bringing up his aunt and then mj pops up from behind her dad stocking up the shop like "what about his daughter?" and it's all up/downhill from there"





	delmar's daughter

the bell jangled as peter entered mr. delmar’s for a sandwich before he embarked on his patrol that monday afternoon.   
“hey kid, how was school today?” mr. delmar questioned as he began making peter’s usual order.   
“eh it was alright. did pretty well on my physics exam i guess.”  
“you don’t sound too excited there” mr. delmar chuckled. “how can someone be down with this much love in the air”  
“valentine’s day is a stupid holiday”, peter countered, scuffing his toes against the floor.   
“bet your beautiful aunt would disagree with me.” he leaned on the counter, humor glinting in his eyes. “she’s gonna love the roses i sent her”  
peter squared his shoulders, a smirk spreading across his face.  
“hm well your daughter is gonna love the ones i sent her”  
“you bought me flowers, parker?”   
peter whirled around fast enough to give himself whiplash. mj stood behind him with a soft and teasing smile slowly appearing.  
“uhhh no why would i wait no why no i didn’t buy you flowers,” peter stammered, a blush spreading all across his face and down his neck.  
“you just said you were going to buy me flowers”  
“no i didn’t what no i said i was going to buy mr. delmar’s daughter flowers”  
“kid,” peter whipped his head back around to the counter where mr. delmar stood chuckling.  
“meet my daughter.”   
___________

“so where are my roses, parker?”  
“shit ow ow ow!” exclaimed peter, jumping back in pain holding his nose in pain. “can you stop scaring me like that?!” he asked mj, who was doubled over laughing. “cmon mj stop laughing! it’s not funny”  
“wow parker dont you have a flash to break your nose for you?”  
“oh shut up mj,” peter grumbled as he reached down to pick up everything he dropped from his arms and knocked out of his locker. “i hate you.”  
“oh you hate me?” mj smirked and leaned against the lockers and peter began shoving things back in. “hm certainly not what you thought when you were saying you bought me flowers last night”  
peter set his books down a ran a hand across his forehead in exasperation.  
“no mj that’s not what i mea-ugh it’s just a joke between me and mr. delmar. he teases me about my aunt so i tease him back about his daughter- which i didn’t know was you i promise,” peter rushed out.  
“hmmm sure you didn’t,” teases mj.  
peter’s eyes flashed to hers. “what’s that supposed to mean”  
“oh c’mon parker. you obviously knew it was me and that’s why you did it. i mean come on, the asking how i was, saying you were gonna ask me on dates, and now the flowers... i mean really now”  
“wait he told you about everything,” peter groaned, his cheeks coloring bright pink.  
“yeah he’s my dad. he’s obligated to tell me when someone has a crush on me”  
“i mean i guess it makes sense he to- WAIT MJ NO I DO NOT-“ peter's voice drops to an urgent whisper “i do not have a crush on you. mj come on you know i don’t- ew i don’t,” peter frantically mumbles as he frantically fumbles with his books to try pack everything in his bag.  
“cmon mj you cant believe him! they were jokes! that’s all they were! i-“  
“sure you don’t parker.” a mischievous glint present in her eyes. “because everyone buys their ‘not-crushes’ flowers.”  
“you’re not my crush!” peter started to exclaim, but with a wink from mj, he was left a blushing and stuttering mess as she disappeared within the crowd of students. 

_____________

later that day, peter sat watching the clock tick with ned beside him, equally as bored. it was their last class of the day, and they were waiting for the bell to ring with baited breath.  
“alright class! i’ve decided to move your test from this friday, the 14th, to next monday so that everyone can have extra review time over the weekend and fully enjoy their valentine’s day this friday!”  
“dude we spent so much time studying last night and for what?” peter asked ned in an agitated whisper as they began to pack their bags.  
“hey it’s okay now we’re just more prepared and you can spend more time patrolling this weekend!”   
“ugh i guess you’re right, but i just don’t get why people make such a big deal out of valentine’s day. like nothing ever happens!”  
“except you buying me roses!”  
“fuck!” peter exclaimed, banging his knees on the underside of his desk.  
“mr. parker!” the teacher snapped from the front of the room.  
“sorry sorry,” he called, still rubbing his newly bruised knees. peter whipped around to stare at mj with a pink blush coloring his cheeks and anger evident in his eyes at her getting him in trouble.  
“can you stop doing that!”  
“sorry parker couldn’t help overhear you call valentine’s day useless, when just yesterday you were telling my dad you were going to surprise me with roses”  
“for the billionth time mj that’s-“ peter’s sentence was cut off by ned lodging an elbow in his side.  
“dude you have a crushon MJ?” ned asked in a awed and not very quiet whisper.  
“what no- ned! cmon no you know-“  
“oh parker just admit it.” mj put her elbows on the desk and leaned closer to him, jokingly fluttering her eyes. peter’s breath caught in his throat as she inched closer to him, her eyes glinting in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the window. “you basically admitted it yourself with the whole roses thing. you’re in love with me.”  
she continued to slowly close the space between them, until another voice rang out amongst the dull clamor of the classroom, and they shot away from each other with vigor   
“well would you get that!” peter felt his heart sink, knowing what’s coming.  
“shut up flash!” mj muttered, a barely visible blush appearing.  
“penis parker is in love with michelle! so tell me parker, what’d she say when you told her? call you a loser? run away? scream at your grossness?”  
peter felt the embarrassment gripping his body tighten its hold until it hurt to breathe.  
“flash. i’m not- i- i don’t have a crush,” he managed to choke out. the blush heightened; his entire face was bright red as the whole class stared at the interaction. he felt his heart rate increase and his eyes began to water in humiliation.  
“lay off flash,” ned tried to interject, but flash was too focused on embarrassing the pair in front of him.  
“no ned. cmon i wanna hear all about parker’s little crush. don’t you? so parker, when did you realize you liked her? when she actually talked to you? lord knows most girls wouldn’t come anywhere near-“  
peter grabbed his bag and fled, cheeks burning from the redness and eyes burning from the frustrated tears. he ran down the hall and made it to the door just as the bell rang. his heart aches from the humiliation that was crushing his heart.   
_____________

peter weaved his way through queens. taking the long way around mr. delmar’s sandwich shop, before finally finding an alley quiet enough to change into his spidey suit. peter stripped off his clothes and began putting on his suit.  
“good afternoon peter,” the calming voice of his karen spoke out in the silence, as peter scaled the wall and sat on the roof, glancing out at the city surrounding him. “how was school.”  
“awful,” he mumbled. “whatever. let’s just start patrol. what’s the nearest crime?”  
“no peter. you sound agitated. it is not wise for you to go on patrol if you are in a bad mental state.”  
“i’m fine karen,” peter gritted our through his teeth. “yeah i’m pissed off, so what? let’s just start.”  
“i’m afraid i cannot, peter,” the ai sounded almost apologetic. “mr. stark just installed a “timeout protocol” to prevent you from making, in his words: ‘those swift bad decisions you always make you go on patrol too emotional.”   
“what the fuck,” peter angrily exclaimed as he flopped down on the roof of the building. “what does that mean?”  
“it means that the suit will be locked down until your heart rate is down and you are no longer angry.”  
“how do i turn it off?”  
“you can’t turn it off peter, but perhaps we could talk about what’s troubling you.”  
“nothing’s troubling me. it’s just this stupid misunderstanding.”  
“what was misunderstood?”  
so peter recounted everything that had happened in the past day. how all he had wanted was a sandwich, and now the entire school believed he loved mj, including mj herself.  
“-and it was just embarrassing because flash was right there and he was making her embarrassed and uncomfortable too and i just wanted to punch him. i just don’t want our friendship to change or be weird just because of a misunderstanding because she’s really cool, even though she’s kinda weird, and she only really talks to ned and i, but she’s so down to earth and really funny in kinda a sarcastic and mean way but she says my laugh is cool and she has a nice laugh as well- ya know i wished she laughed more, or smiled- she has a nice smile too but i just don’t want to lose her as a friend.”  
“what is the problem, peter?”  
“that mj thinks i like her!!!” he shouted.  
“but you do like her,” karen countered.  
“no, i don’t- did you hear anything i just said- i  said we were good friends and i don’t want her to be weird around me and all after flash today and where would you even get the idea that i likes her you can’t feel emotion”

“replaying baby monitor footage: tagged mj”  
“karen what the he- woah!”  
the eyes of the mask filled with a small screen showing peter’s past adventures through the city.  
“karen why are you showing me this?”  
“listen peter.” and so he did.  
and what he heard, made his heart beat faster.  
“lunch was pretty cool. mj came and sat with today-“  
“mj showed me this cool new book today; i think i’m gonna check it out-“  
“mj told off the teacher today man i wish i had recorded it. she’s so sarcastic and funny-“  
“do you think it’s creepy if i text mj and ask if she’s okay? she seemed sad today-“  
“we won our decathlon meet today! it was so cool to get the trophy but we agreed to give it to mj since she answered the most questions! man she’s so smart-“  
“mj wore her hair down today; it looked so pretty-“  
peter’s mouth opened wider and his breathing rate increased as he listened to himself go on and on about mj and her “sarcastic jokes”, and “funny teasing”, and “pretty smile”, and basically everything.  
“holy shit,” he muttered. “karen. t-turn”  
he cleared his throat and tried again.  
“karen turn it off!” he exclaimed, dread pooling in his stomach.  
the video immediately cut out.  
“do you see why i was able to conclude that you had feelings for mj?”  
“no stop i-“ his voice cracked. “i don’t- i don’t like her like that”  
“it is fine to love a girl peter. here perhaps i can play the birds and bees protocol mr. stark installed for when you began to become sexually act-“  
peter ripped off his mask to cut her off.  
“crap,” he muttered in disbelief, running a shaking hand through his hair. “oh no no no no no.”  
he sat for a moment, still in shock, before springing off the roof and scurrying down the wall, patrol long forgotten. peter threw his clothes over the suit and sprinted home. it wasn’t until he had slammed the door behind him and was laying on his floor, eyes wide from his current existential crisis that he allowed himself to think: 

i have a crush on mj.

__________________

peter dragged his feet across the floor as he moped his way into the school the following morning. a broken yawn escaped his mouth. peter had stayed up until his alarm rang, his mind racing with his sudden realization of his feelings. fear gripped his heart as he stared at his ceiling, not knowing what to do in the slightest. does he admit it to her and face the consequences when she inevitably turns him down because, cmon, this is mj we’re talking about? or does he just ignore it and hope that his suddenly-realized but long-lived feelings just disappear?  
peter’s internal battle hadn’t subsided at all by the time he arrived at his locker, but he had managed to avoid flash or any other teasing classmate, which was another fear that kept him up?  
“dude are you okay?” ned sidled up to his locker adjacent to peter’s to check up on his best friend. “you seemed really upset yesterday and didn’t answer any of my texts last night.”  
“yeah sorry i was just having a rough night and turned my phone off.”  
“it’s all cool man, but i was just worried if you had been hurt on patrol or something”  
“no i didn’t even go out as spider-man last night.”  
ned’s eyes widened a fraction, worry saturating his next words. “dude are you sure you’re okay?”  
“yeah i was just thinking about a lot of stuff”  
“oh like your new crush on mj,” ned chuckled.  
peter stayed silent. his breath hitched and a warm pink began coloring his cheeks.   
“dude.” ned gasped. “you’re joking. cmon peter! mj?????”  
“i know!” snapped peter. he sighed and his voice lost all its anger. “i know.”  
“b-b-but what you you going to do? are you actually going to buy her roses? peter this is MJ!”  
“i don’t know.” peter rubbed his eyes. “i just don’t know what to do”  
“don’t know what to do about what,” mj asked from the other side of peter’s locker. in his tired state, he didn’t even jump at her sudden presence.  
“is this about flash because peter i had no idea he would go that far... i’m really sorry.”  
“no mj i just have a lot going on,” peter let out with a long exhale. “and don’t apologize, it wasn’t your fault.”  
“it kinda was... i was teasing you about a crush you don’t have and i shouldn’t have been doing that in the first place.”  
peter stiffened at the mention of a crush.  
“no it’s just flash being flash. it’s fine.”  
“no peter i-“  
“mj just drop it!” peter said a little too harshly and slammed his locker. mj took a tentative step back, and ned glances at him worriedly.   
“sorry sorry,” he said scrubbing a hand across his face. “i didn’t mean that i’m just so tired. please let’s just drop it and go to class.”  
so with tension in the air, the three made their way off too class and mj realized: he hadn’t denied the crush.

___________

the rest of the school day passed relatively uneventfully. they did their work, went to lunch, participated in class, and so forth and so on. the only change was in peter's mood.  
the once cheery and bright boy who would excitedly go over his adventures as spider-man quietly in the back of the classroom, sat still, internal battle on what to do still raging inside. when the final bell rang, peter, still distracted by his own thoughts and daydreams, muttered a distracted goodbye to his two friends, who exchanged slightly concerned glances, and trudged out of the school.  
on the bright side, it was finally time for the only thing peter was looking forward to today: patrol. as he scoured queens for an empty ally,  he found himself right outside of mr. delmar’s sandwich shop, but before he could turn to leave, his stomach grumbled with hunger.  
   
knowing he needed to eat if he wanted to have a successful patrol, peter hesitantly put his hand on the door, took a deep breath and opened it.  
the bells on the door alerted mr. delmar of someone’s presence. he turned his head, saw it was peter, and then turned back around to finish the accounting books.  
“hey hey kid! how’s it been?” he asked cheerfully.  
“good.” peter had his eyes trained on the floor.  
“your aunt ready for our hot date this friday?” the teasing tone was evident in his voice.  
“yeah sure,” peter mumbled.  
mr. delmar finished up at the back counter, clicked the pen, and turned to face peter.  
he took in the boy in front of him: messy hair, bags under his eyes, shoulders hunched, and studying the floor with a passion.  
mr. delmar tried lightening the mood once more.  
“what kid no witty remark about my daughter this time?”  
“no mr. delmar,” he whispered out, throat tight.  
“hey hey hey kid i’m just messing with you. is this about what happened at school the other day?”  
“yeah... it just kinda sucked. but that’s just flash being flash- so nothing new.”  
mr. delmar placed a hand on peter’s shoulders and peter lifted his eyes to meet the older man’s for a brief moment.  
“i’m so sorry kid- i... i’m sorry,” he breathed out.  
“it’s fine.” peter suddenly straightened. “wait how’d you know about it?”  
“mj told me. she said you were really upset and that she felt really bad.”  
“oh really... she said all that?”  
“yeah kid. she talks about you a lot”  
peter snapped his eyes up at that, a sharp gasp escaping his lips.  
“sh-she does?”  
a knowing smile spread across his face.  
“yeah she’s always going on about your annoying niceness, and aggravatingly high gpa, and your lack of common sense, and your stupid hair...”  
“she thinks my hair is stupid?” peter asked his nose scrunching up in slight offense.  
“yeah,” mr. delmar chuckled. “as stupid and fluffy as a baby bird’s”  
“oh,” peter bit back a smile at that. “wait so she likes my hair? or she doesn’t like it?”  
“oh you stupid smart kid. she loves your hair.”  
peter was unable to stop the smile after that, and grinned down at his shoes.  
“so about those roses-“ mr. delmar’s teasing words were cut off suddenly.  
“gotta go bye!!” peter said as he turned and rushed out of the store.  
“kid!” mr. delmar called after him. “peter!”   
peter halted at the door.  
“you forgot sandwich.”  
“but i didn’t order,” he said confusedly.  
“kid you’ve been coming here long enough. i’ve made this sandwich so many damn times.”  
peter went to go fish out his wallet.  
“no no hey this one’s on the house.”  
“i cant ask you to do that for me,” peter said.  
“nope i’m not letting you pay for this one. besides you’ve got some flowers to buy for a special someone,” mr. delmar teased, wiggling his eyebrows.  
and with that, peter grabbed the food off the counter and sprinted out of the store, his cheeks as red as the roses he was about to go buy, but his smile brighter than ever.

____________

after that evenings patrol, peter and may say on the couch with styrofoam containers of pad thai in their laps. may was animatedly talking about her day, but picked up on peter’s shyness and the way he meandered around his food.  
after her third bad joke earning only a fake “haha”, may set her container down on the coffee table.  
“okay that’s it. what’s up?”  
peter snapped out of his daydream.  
“huh?”  
“what’s going on? you haven’t said a word to me and you haven’t laughed at any of my bad jokes and you love those!”  
“i just have a lot on my mind.”  
“well you know that’s what i’m here for right? talk to me petey.”  
“may you promised you’d never call me that again,” peter groaned.  
may chuckled lightly and held her hands up in surrender before dropping them to her lap and waiting for him to go on.  
“it’s just- i need...” peter’s voice trailed off as he wrung his hands nervously in his lap.  
“you need what?”  
“ineedabouquetofroses,” he rushed out in one breath, immediately blushing.  
“you need roses? what for? oh my god is ned in the hospital,” may asked worriedly.  
“no,” peter’s voice came out in a squeaky whisper. “they’re for... mj?”  
“michelle? why? oh my god is she in the hospital?”  
“no may... she um... you see uh- valentine’s day.. and i thought- maybe she’d-“  
“oh my god.” may whispered in shock, her eyes widening and jaw dropping when she realized what her nephew was saying. “oh my god.” the biggest smile broke out across her face.  
“may please don’t laugh,” peter begged.  
“i’m not i’m not! i just- tony stark owes me ten dollars,” she said with a smug grin.  
“why?”  
“because i knew you’d admit it to me eventually.”  
“wait you bet on me? wait how’d you know?!”  
“oh peter,” may chuckled and reached up to brush her nephews fluffy hair off his forehead. “you weren’t exactly subtle about it.”  
peter leaned foreword, placing his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands and let out a loud groan.   
“it’s okay baby. we all thought it was cute.”  
he groaned louder at that, utter mortified at not only the thought of the tony stark knowing about his crush but talking to his aunt about how “cute” it was.   
may took his embarrassment as cue and changed the subject.  
“so you need roses?”  
“yeah, i was going to go after school tomorrow but i don’t know where to get them.”  
“well there’s plenty of street vendors. i’ll leave some money on the counter and you can use it to pick up some flowers for your girl tomorrow.”  
“no may i can’t ask you to spend money on-“  
“nonsense. i’m just excited! this is a big deal ya know! baby’s first cru-ush,” she said in a sing songy voice.  
peter’s cheeks burned bright red as he let out an exasperated “mayyyyyyyyyy.”

_______________

school on thursday blew past in a blink; the money burning a hole in peter’s pocket.  
   
the tenth time ned snapped his fingers in front of peter’s face brought about a “dude what’s up with you today?”, and after 15 times he stopped trying. the only thing that was able to break peter out of his daydreams was the final bell of the day.  
   
peter jumped up from his seat and said a rushed goodbye to ned and mj before rushing out of the school. he planned on doing a quick patrol that afternoon before buying some flowers on his way home. he changed into his spider-man suit, webbed up his backpack, and sling off into the city.  
“good afternoon peter,” karen’s voice chimes in his ears. “what would you like to start with: car vandalism or mugging?”  
“mugging!”  
and so peter spent the next couple of hours meandering about the city, stopping crime in its tracks. he was about to head back and end his patrol for the day when karen said.  
“a shop is being robbed four blocks down.”  
peter immediately slung his way over and down and ran into the store. behind the counter, a little old lady was shaking while men with baseball bats raided her cash register and wrecked the store, taking glee in the chaos.  
“hey hey fellas. let’s drop those bats.”  
the criminals turned with surprise, having not noticed the entrance of the vigilante.  
“shit!” one of them exclaimed.  
“hey you wouldn’t speak like that in front of your grandma now would you?” peter didn’t even give them a chance to respond before he began attacking back.   
within a matter of minutes, peter had webbed all four men to the wall with their baseball bats left strewn on the floor. he walked over and snatched the money back from them before turning to the old lady.  
“here i think this is yours.”  
“oh my,” she said breathlessly with her hand over her heart, but reached out to take the cash . “how will i ever thank you?”  
“no need miss! it’s- uh it’s no big deal.”   
“wait sir here! have some of my valentine’s day flowers to surprise your special lady. please take them for free. i don’t know how else to thank you.”  
“flowers?” peter’s nose scrunched under his mask in confusion.  
“why yes!” the woman answered. “i’ve been running this florist shop for over 50 years.”  
“oh my god,” peter muttered, just now taking in his surroundings. he had been so focused on the robbery he hadn’t noticed the arrangements on flowers lining the walls and wrecked ones lying limp on the floor. he couldn’t help but laugh at the irony.  
“that’s okay ma’am! i was going to go buy some later.”  
“nonsense!” she exclaimed. she bent down and rummaged around behind the counter for a second before straightening up and thrusting two dozen red roses at peter.  
“here take these, please! i don’t know how else to thank you!”  
“no really it’s okay i don’t want to just take these!” peter tried to protest, but the lady wouldn’t have any of it and forced them into his hands.  
“thank you,” peter said.  
“no, thank you!” she countered before shooting him off. “now go! you’ve got a girl to give those to before they wilt in the cold!”  
   
peter left the shop slightly awestruck at how the universe seemed to be scarily on his side.  
he tucked the roses in his elbow, careful to not squish them, and swung back to the alley to change. once he was all bundled up and ready to go, he noticed that the roses were already beginning to wilt due to the frigid temperatures.  
“crap,” he muttered, not wanting to give mj a bunch of dead flowers. he glanced around to see if there was any sort of anything in the alley he could use to help protect them, and something caught his eye.  
it was the sign for mr. delmar’s sandwich shop across the road. peter chuckled under his breath; he had no idea he had been close to the store all the time. upon closer inspection, he realized mj was inside.  
the roses were losing life the longer they stayed outside, so with a “cmon parker you’ve got this”, peter jogged across the street and into the shop.  
the bell jangled throughout the silent shop, startling mj who stood behind the counter.  
“oh hey peter,” she said with a small wave, before looking back at the money she was counting. “my dad will be back in a couple minutes. he had to make a phone call, but i can ring you up! so what’s the parker special?”  
after a moment, the silence caught mj’s attention, and she looked up.  
“peter?” she tried again more gently.  
but peter stood frozen a couple steps into the store, his body rigid and his eyes wide. the roses were behind his back, and his mouth gasped as he panicked. i mean, this was mj! who was perfect and strong and independent and probably didn’t even like flowers and what had he done because she was just going to make fun of him and she was going to laugh and she-  
“peter,” mj softly said again, suddenly much closer.  
her voice jerked peter out of his panicked trance and he stumbled back a few steps. he hadn’t noticed she had emerged from behind the counter, and was now right in front of him staring at him with concern. his eyes dropped to the floor.   
“you okay?” she asked quietly.  
“yeah- oh yeah! oh i’m fine! yeah why wouldn’t i be okay i’m perfect,” he stammered out, still refusing to meet her eyes.  
she took another step forward and reached out to place a hand on his arm. in his haste to avoid her he jumped backwards and heard the paper surrounding the roses crumple against the wall.  
“shit,” he said and quickly took the roses from behind his back to inspect the damage.  
the moment he instinctively took the flowers from behind his back, he froze. there was no turning back now.  
mj let out a soft gasp, biting her lip to contain her smile.  
“are those for me,” she asked softly.  
“maybe,” peter squeaked out as his face turned as red as the roses.  
a full smile broke out across her face.  
“well are you going to give them to me?” a teasing tone taking over her voice.  
peter’s arm twitched forward and mj took them from him and smelled them.  
“wow they smell amazing! who knew a nerd like you could pick out flowers?”  
mj’s joke fell flat, as peter continued to stare at the floor. mj tried to duck her head down to meet his eyes, but he turned his head.  
 

peter’s lungs felt frozen as he waited with anticipation for her inevitable rejection.  
“will you at least look at me?”  
peter shook his head stiffly.  
“why not?”  
peer screwed his eyes shut, took a deep breath and blurted:  
“becauseilikeyou!”  
mj blinked, mouth slightly agape at his sudden confession. the split second of silence was too much for peter who made an attempt to turn and leave, but was stopped by mj’s quiet “i like you too.”  
he whipped around.  
“you what?”  
“don’t make me say it again dork.”  
   
“wait you actually- you like- wait are you just joking?” he asked, heart threatening to beat out of his chest.  
“no i’m not joking,” she smiled and rolled her eyes in fake annoyance. “you’re pretty stupid for a genius.”  
peter opened his mouth in fake offense.  
“hey that was mean! you can’t be mean to me i bought you roses,” he said with a pout.  
“you’re right i guessss,” she said with a smirk. she opened her mouth to continue teasing, but peter quickly interrupted.  
“so since tomorrow is like valentine’s day, would you maybe like- would you want to do something... with me?”  
she couldn’t help but smile at the adorably awkward boy in front of her.  
“are you tryna ask me out on a date parker?”  
“yes...? it’s not going very well is it?” he let out an embarrassed chuckle.  
“wow finally something peter parker’s bad at! who would’ve thought?” she said mockingly.  
he jutted his bottom lip in a fake pout.  
“i’m just joshing ya!” she laughed, but her voice turned soft at her next words. “ i’d love to go on a date with you.”  
“well kid i never thought you’d actually go through with it!”  
mj and peter sprang apart from one another, at mr. delmar’s sudden entrance.  
“dad,” mj hissed under her breath.  
“what? nothing rude, i just didn’t think lil ole parker here was actually gonna buy you flowers, let alone ask you out!”  
he turned to peter.  
“i know she can take care of herself, but you treat her right.”  
“yessir.”  
“and you respect her.”  
“yessir.”  
“and you recognize her as her own independent woman.”  
“she’d never let me think differently.”  
“and you’re not old enough to be having sex, so don’t even think about-“  
“oh my god!! dad!!!”  
“yessir,” peter squeaked out, his face as red as a tomato.  
“and don’t be expecting any free sandwiches around here.”  
“yessir,” peter exhaled in relief that the sudden tension was gone and let out a small laugh.  
“now go because it’s getting late and i don’t want that beautiful aunt of yours worrying!”  
peter gave mr. delmar a small salute before turning to mj.  
“soooo i’ll text you tonight about tomorrow?”  
“perfect! i’ll see you at school!”  
“okay bye!”  
peter already had one hand on the door before mj called out for him to wait. he turned in confusion, but before he even had time to ask “what?” she leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to his pink cheek.  
“happy early valentine’s day,” she said with a blush of her own.  
“happy early valentine’s day to you too,” he said before turning to leave the store once more, a permanent smile on his face and love in his eyes. right as the door was closing he heard mr. delmar one last time:  
“hey! no kissing in my store!!”  
“dad!”


End file.
